Rob Ford bobblehead sells out in just hours

Mayor Rob Ford is a bobblehead — and chances are it will become a collector’s item.

Hundreds lined up on Tuesday morning to buy one of 1,000 copies of the miniature rendition of the chief magistrate in support of a United Way campaign.

Rob Ford arrived at 10:30 a.m. to scattered applause and was signing the bobbleheads for purchasers. He invited one waiting member of the media to take a shot at the doll, saying “it just bounces back all the time.”

“This freak show has a gift shop,” read one tweet describing the surreal scene from City Hall watcher Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler.

Colby Bayne, a Royal LePage real estate agent, was waiting in line to buy a Rob Ford bobblehead in the rotunda at City Hall on Tuesday morning. Bayne did not vote for Ford and does not support him but said, “I figured I’d get a memento.”

There were at least 500 people ahead of him in line shortly after 10 a.m. waiting for sales to start, as well as a crush of media. The bobbleheads were originally supposed to go on sale at 9 a.m.

Among those hoping to get their hands on a bobblehead were the mayor’s brother Coun. Doug Ford, who joked that due to the high demand, he was only allowed one of the figures.

“It speaks volumes by the amount of people that are downstairs (lining up),” Doug Ford said. “I don’t think there’s a politician in the country including the prime minister that could have bobblehead dolls and have them line up around the corner.”

Doug Ford predicted that Wednesday’s city council meeting will be a “public flogging” of the mayor, who is facing calls to take a leave of absence after he admitted to smoking crack cocaine.

“This week is going to be very political with these councillors and we’ll just have to get through it,” said Councillor Ford. He maintained that a “witch hunt” is going on against the mayor. “It’s going to be a public flogging, I think it’s all politics,” said Councillor Ford, who said the mayor’s crack admission hit him “like a sledgehammer.”

“He’s apologized profusely, I don’t know how many more times he can apologize. He’s telling the folks what he’s doing to correct the issue and he has to move forward and only time will tell right now.”

Doug Ford also said his brother had started a workout regime. “He walked in stiff as a board last night….He walked in like a robot. And so, he says he’s never worked out so hard, gone out about three or four times now. So I think that’s a step in the right direction.”

“He’s getting the support that he needs,” Doug Ford said.

The first bobblehead customer, wearing clip-on suspenders over a “Stop the Gravy Train” t-shirt from Ford’s 2010 mayoral campaign, arrived at 5 a.m.

Mayor Ford, who made international headlines and late night television jokes after admitting he smoked crack cocaine while in a drunken stupor, is said to be pleased with the likeness. “He says it looks a little like Doug,” said his spokesman Amin Massoudi.

“He’s happy to support the United Way.”

The bobblehead is imported by Build a Bobble Inc. in Richmond Hill and made in China. It comes in a box that has a brief bio of the mayor.

“Born in Etobicoke, May 28, 1969, Mayor Rob Ford learned the importance of community service and political involvement from his father, the late Doug Ford Sr. who served as MPP for Etobicoke-Humber from 1995-99,” the box reads.

It goes on to call the mayor “a strong believer in building better communities” and lists his volunteer contributions to the Salvation Army, Terry Fox Foundation and Heart and Stroke Foundation.

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